TheROUGH COLLIE BREED COUNCILestablished 1966www.roughcolliebreedcounc - PDF document

TheROUGH COLLIE BREED COUNCILestablished 1966www.roughcolliebreedcouncil.org.uk Dareen A Bridge Rough Collie Breed Archivist Supported by the Rough Collie Breed Council http://www.roughcolliebreedcouncil.org.uk/rc-archive.html 11/09 UNDERSTANDINGTHE RELEVANCEOFWHITE-FACTORINTHE COLLIETo understand the relevance of a Rough Collie’s colour and markings one must understandits origin and original purpose. In common with its close cousins the Smooth, Bearded,and Border Collies plus Shetland Sheepdog together with a number of North Americanand Australian herding types, the Rough Collie can trace its ancestry back to the General BritishStock Dog which had been carefully bred by stockmen, flock-masters, and drovers for more thanfour hundred years prior to the advent of dog shows in the mid 18th Century.As practical country men living hard and demanding lives on very limited incomes their needwas for a practical, hardy, lithe, athletic and intelligent dog capable of assisting them in theiradduces task. To this end they required an animal that would contrast with the sheep and cattlewhich have traditionally grazed the upland areas of the British Isles, yet still be visible in poorlighting conditions, thus explaining why all British herding breeds sport coloured bodies withwhite areas, particularly on neck, head, chest and tail. Therefore, without knowing anything aboutgenetics, early breeders selected for, what we now term, White-Factor animals and thepredominantly white animal would usually be culled at birth although occasionally one would beraised for work around the farm-yard, or with young lambs.When the Collie first entered the show ring in 1860, they were, like all breeds, judged bygeneral stockmen who invariably placed a flashily marked specimen above their plainercousins, and as exhibitors will always veer to the type which attracts a judge’s attention so theshow Collie has traditionally possessed flashy white markings. The fact that the first BreedStandard, published 1881, statedColour Immaterial never did have much credence as is pointedout byRawdon Lee in his book‘A History and Description of the Collie or Sheep Dog’ firstpublished 1890, in which he states:“… I may say that the line as to colour being immaterial is at any rate misleading.Colour has a considerable amount of weight with all judges…”These anomalies regarding colour were addressed to some degree in the unified BreedStandard published in 1910, which states the following under the relevant sub-heading:“COLOUR & MARKINGS: are immaterial, but other points being equal, a nice showilymarked dog is preferred.”When the Kennel Club took control of all Breed Standards after the 2nd World War, theyreiterated the Colour clause while dropping reference to the previously listed objection to AllWhite and Setter Red, much to the annoyance of Rough Collie elders, withMiss Clare Molony, Dareen A Bridge Rough Collie Breed Archivist Supported by the Rough Collie Breed Council http://www.roughcolliebreedcouncil.org.uk/rc-archive.html 11/09UNDERSTANDING WHITE-FACTORIN COLLIES:Page: 2 of 5 writing a detailed description of each acceptable colour in the‘Collie Association Handbook of1952’, adding the following reference to white markings:“ A full white collar, white forelegs, white hind legs below the hocks, and a whitetipped tail are desirable though not essential, and a white blaize on face is optional.”The first edition ofMargaret Osborne’s‘The Popular Collie’(later re-named ‘The Collie’) reprintedMiss Molony’s interpretation of the Standard from the Collie Association Handbook, but on thisoccasion she had added to her earlier comments regarding Colour and Markings, saying:“the 1910 standard said that white and red setter colours are most objectionable,and it is a great pity this clause was dropped. A list of acceptable colours mightalso be included”From that moment the breed elders lobbied for such a clause, and after long and protracteddiscussions with the Kennel Club they were finally successful with the new Breed Standard,published in 1969, stating:“COLOUR: — The three recognised colours are sable and white, tricolour and bluemerle.Sable: Any shade of light gold to rich mahogany or shaded sable. Light strawor cream coloured highly undesirable.Tricolour: predominantly black with rich tan markings about legs and head.A rusty tinge in top coat highly undesirable.Blue Merle: predominantly clear, silvery blue, splashed and marbled withblack. Rich tan markings preferred, but their absence should not becounted as a fault. Large black markings, slate colour, or rusty tingeeither of top or undercoat are highly undesirable.White Markings: All the above may carry the typical white Collie markings toa greater or lesser degree. The following markings are favourable –White collar, full or part, white shirt, legs and feet, white tail tip. A blazemay be carried on muzzle or skull, or both.”The current Breed Standard, as regards colour and markings, varies little from that givenabove.After around six hundred years of breeding for flashily marked Collies even those without ascientific background must appreciate that the vast majority of Collies of all types, whetheror not they exhibit classic signs, are in fact White-Factored and it is now useless to try eliminatinga genetic trait which enabled these animals to perform their original function of gathering, herdingand driving livestock with greater ease.Mis-marked or heavily patched with white animals have always appeared in litters, as doesthe occasional colour-headed white acceptable under American and Canadian Kennel Club rules.Mis-mark specimens of this typemust never the confused with the double-dilute white producedwhen mating two merle animals together, for they are just as healthy as any other Collie makingideal pets, often being preferred by those who seek something a little different or unusual.The British canine world is regulated by The Kennel Club and neither they nor anyone elsehas ever attempted to prescribe the breeding programme adopted by any kennel. British breedersmay use which ever animals they like, with the single proviso that in order to register the stockboth sire and dammustbe registered in the same breed register. The use of mis-markedindividuals along with other animals unlikely to win laurels in the show ring have always formedpart of the serious breeder’s armoury, and many kennels, even today, owe their continuedexistence to their willingness to retain and breed from white patched examples that wereotherwise of high standard. Dareen A Bridge Rough Collie Breed Archivist Supported by the Rough Collie Breed Council http://www.roughcolliebreedcouncil.org.uk/rc-archive.html 11/09UNDERSTANDING WHITE-FACTORIN COLLIES:Page: 3 of 5 Not only does the Clarges Street based Kennel Club refrain from advising breeders on thebreeding programmes they adopt, they havenever prevented anyone showing a registeredanimal, however far it may deviatefrom the Breed Standard,consequently there have alwaysbeen those who will risk theirreputation by exhibiting animalswhich fail to display ideal markings.Mrs George(Beulah), arguablythe most high-profilebreeder/exhibitor in her day, oftenkept and incorporated white-factorCollies into her breeding programmein addition to encouraging others tofollow her example. HerBeulah’sGoldenshade, as can be seen infig 1, was a very heavily whitepatched Collie but this did preventMr F. W. Ball(Backwoods) fromawarding him a 1stin Limit Dog at Blackpool & District Canine Society’s Championship Show in1937, although is did perhaps curtail his show ring success.Ch Beulah’s Golden Future,byBeulah’s Goldenshade,(seen on the right in fig 1 above) andCh Beulah’s Blanco-y-Negro(fig2 belowleft) were both obvious white-factor Collies, as can be seen in these images, but this did notprevent either from becoming UK Champions in addition to being widely used and successfulstud dogs. Golden Future in particular finding fame as the last pre 2nd World War champion dog,sire of the 1st post 2nd World War championCollie and grand-sire of Chs Beulah’sGolden Fuson Kin and Golden Flora, thelatter dam of the immortal Ch/Ir Ch Lochinvarof Ladypark. fig 1:Mrs George with herheavily white patched sable & white dogBeulah’s Goldenshade(on the left)and his clearly white-factor sonCh Beulah’s Golden Future fig 2:White-factor TricolourCh Beulah’s Blanco-y-Negroearned qualifying CC from all-rounder Mr J GarrowLondon Collie Club’s 1st Championship Show 1955 Dareen A Bridge Rough Collie Breed Archivist Supported by the Rough Collie Breed Council http://www.roughcolliebreedcouncil.org.uk/rc-archive.html 11/09UNDERSTANDING WHITE-FACTORIN COLLIES:Page: 4 of 5 More recently this white patchedblue merle dog(fig 3) was bothcampaigned to his title at a time whenRough Collie Championship Showentries would average in excess of 200Rough Collie exhibits present at eachChampionship Show throughout theyear, and again he was so widely usedat stud that his breeding infiltratesalmost all British Blue Merle lines oftoday. Finally only this year a whitepatched bitch(fig 4 below) after asuccessful puppy career with several ReserveChallenge Certificates to her name, gained theChallenge Certificate with Best of Breed at oneof our breed club Championship Shows, andwill undoubtedly be bred from in due course.You will note that this bitch, like the dog above,does not exhibit the white line up the insidecurve of her stifle but both are neverthelesswhite-factored collies and both exhibit clearlyvisable white patches on their back.Disqualifying faults havenever beenpermitted under Kennel Club rules,although a judge has always been able todismiss any animal that they believe to bevicious or suffering from a contagious disease, and it is now more than forty years since thissame body insisted upon the removal of all fault clauses, replacing these with the same cover-allphrase appended to every Breed Standards which read:“FAULTS: Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault andthe seriousness with which the fault is regarded should be in exactproportion to its degree.”The reason given for this departure from previous practice was a wish to promote positive ratherthan negative judging, which a list of faults is considered to encourage.European Countries, like much of the world, come under the jurisdiction of theFédérationCynologique Internationale(FCI) who always adopt the Breed Standard from the‘Country ofOrigin’, unless another country has an overwhelming claim to be considered the‘Country ofDevelopment’, therefore the whole of Europe has adopted the British Standard for all CollieBreeds. This means that as the British Rough Collie Breed Standard does not include anydisqualifying faults, no Rough Collie can be disqualified for failing to conform to the BreedStandard. This ruling confirmed after a British judge disqualified a colour headed white Collie,fig 3:Blue merle White-factor Male Championwho gained his title in 1992who fig 4:Blue merle White-factor Bitch Challenge Certificatewinner this yearwho Dareen A Bridge Rough Collie Breed Archivist Supported by the Rough Collie Breed Council http://www.roughcolliebreedcouncil.org.uk/rc-archive.html 11/09UNDERSTANDING WHITE-FACTORIN COLLIES:Page: 5 of 5 bred in America and conforming to their Breed Standard, from competing in a major Europeanshow. the judge in question was subsequently advised that this procedure was incorrect and thatthe animal should have been judged but could have been given the lowest grade as it did notcomply with the Breed Standard for the country of residence.So far I have dealt solely with the white-factor influence over past and current Rough Colliesshowing and breeding practice. Its genetic inheritance remains mis-understood by themajority, despite current knowledge being fully covered in‘Breeding for Colour in Rough andSmooth Collies’ in addition to several more scientific volumes.While admitting this and accepting that current theory suggests that the Extreme WhiteSpotting gene, considered to be responsible for white-factor in collies, is inherited as anincomplete dominant, it must be admitted that further research is likely to draw quite differentconclusions, particularly as inheritance never appears to follow classic Mendel inheritancepatterns. Certainly colour headed, otherwise white specimens have appeared in litters whereneither parent showed any indication of being white factored, just as two white-factor collies whenmated together can and have produced whole litters of very plainly marked collies that are unlikelyto attract the attention of any judge.For this reason, if no other, there can be little profit in trying to limit the range of matesfor any Collie, whether white-factor or not, providing it is a good specimen, and reasonable freefrom inheritable conditions. When a dog’s health status is proved, by genetic profiling, to be freeof widely distributed genetic conditions the breeding from such animals should be encouragedrather than otherwise, particularly in today’s climate of diseases free animals, genetic diversityand a litigious public.Dareen A Bridge‘Emmsmoor’OfficialRough Collie Breed Archivist for the whole of the UK and supportedby the ‘Rough Collie Breed Council’www.roughcolliebreedcouncil.org.uk/rc-archive.html Webmaster to the ROUGH COLLIE BREED COUNCILwww.roughcolliebreedcouncil.org.uk Owner and creator ofwww.collietree.info a Collie Resource site which tracesthe Collie’s development from humble farm worker to glamorous Show Dogcapable of winning at top levelResearcher and co-compiler with Iris Combe(Tilehouse) and Pat Hutchinson(Karibuni) of the Rough Collie classic ‘Rough Collies of Distinction’